This story runs counter to what we usually hear from Ark City schools — that they are winning awards for student achievement.
Could be wrong, but I get a sense that school officials are not confronting the issue head on. The comments that MOST kids are doing well kind of glosses over the whole reason No child left behind is in place — to ensure that those who are hard to teach - low-income, language barriers, minorities - get educated too.
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14 comments:
So much for "Good to Great"
Being low income, or minority don't make you hard to educate. Are you saying that low income families and minorities some how are inferior to those who are white or are of a higher financial status? I thought that the whole purpose of being a liberal was to not look at things in a racist point of view. If our public schools are not cutting the mustard, then we need to put a voucher system in place so the parents, rich, poor, majority or minority can put their kids where they see fit. Being poor doesnt make you dumb or unteachable Dave, it just limits your CHOICES of schools to a government funded one. It seems to me that for a country that wants to educate everyone no matter what, it sure is hard to have a say so in our childrens education. But chouce is only for those who support the liberal point of view isn't it?
The purpose of No Child left behind is to measure the progress of the students as a whole The problem with the whole system is just that. It attempts to measure progress of the student body as a whole. This is attempted through the use of standardized testing. So much emphasis is being put ion the test and results that teachers are no longer free to teach. NCLB locks the education system into a pattern of memorization and regurgitation that no only fails to educate our children, it fails to allow teachers to teach them to think. Many things in life are situational and this includes teaching. It's well past time to dispense with this none sense of no child left behind and let the true experts, those in the classroom, get back to doing what they can do best, teaching. REALLY teaching. Thank God for the David Stinemetz's, the Darla Mann's, and the so many other skilled teachers we have in AC that have been able to reach and teach so many kids IN SPITE of the current system. Put them and the administrators back in charge and get the government and the unfunded mandates out of the way. We will again return to raising generations of thinkers.
Two observations:
1: When one is a radical conservative, all problems are the fault of liberals. When one is a radical liberal, all problems are the fault of conservatives. I believe there's enough blame to go around.
2: Sarcasm, rudeness and name calling seem to become the norm when the ability to post anonymously is allowed. It's humerus to see how many folks get ten feet tall and bullet proof when there's no chance of getting a bloody nose as might happen if said comments were made face to face.
I agree with anonymous 12:25 about the whole idea that somehow your a disadvantaged person if you are an individual that is a minority or poor. We have one public middle school and one public high school so everyone that attends these two schools have the exact same opportunities as the next person available to them. I think that we have to come to the realization that some of the individual choices that ALL kids make effect their opportunities for advancement. There are some kids that just do not want to learn! I was one of them all the way through high school until I figured out one day that if I wanted to amount to anything, I would have to buckle down and straiten up. I dropped out of high school until I was eighteen, then I went to job corps and got a high school diploma and graduated at twenty years old. Sometimes kids need a different environment to thrive in, which is why we should have a voucher system so we can decide as parents where to put our children. Also, I don't think a bloody nose would be in order TT. There was nothing I saw that would be offensive in Anon's 12:25 comments. I do agree with you though about enough blame being able to be sread around. I think that if parents were given more of a choice over what their children learn, and the government just got out of the way, we would be alot better of. It seems both sides just want to throw more money at the problem instead of just fixing it. What do you think?
Your racial genetic or your income level SHOULD NOT be an excuse for one's lack of learning. That is a crutch. UGH.....
I think the concept of NCLB is a good one but it doesn't work the way it should.
The important part of this is to follow the kids' progress and not the "press releases" of the schools.
I've read many articles where everyone at the schools were giving themselves awards for "having the most financially efficient schools" or some silly nonsense like that while the ACHS reading and math proficiencies were horrible.
Work on the core competencies, not on the fluff.
This is not something that just popped up.
Look up last year and the year before at the Standard and Poors rating of the schools. ACHS was in the bottom third of the state in reading and math.
Time to wake up and smell the equation.
It is not about empty awards that make good press. It is about performance.
With all the money from my tax dollars spent on nonsense at the schools, why are the performance levels not up to par?
Every time the paper publishes one of these fluff award stories for the schools and doesn't dig deeper, it just encourages the train to go down the wrong track.
Hold their feet to the fire for performance accountability and the problem will go away.
It isn't that people in AC are poor. It is that the schools are more concerned about financial efficiency and stadiums than about whether Johnny can read or find the root of a quadratic.
Great post John M. Public school has become the euphimism for keeping up with the Joneses.
We no longer set an agenda. We try to copy cat the agenda of otherindutrialized nations. Problem is that we don't really learn wht others do. We just want to copy their results. And, their results are influenced in part by the fact that they do not educate everyone. We at least try.
As for the indignation regarding the socioeconomic and ethnic background, I think it points to the fact that certain populations were, at some point denied access to equal education.
As a result, the ability of students who come from certain home environments may not have as much family support to succeed.
Also, people whose historical experience with public education was not good - i.e. they dropped out or had constant conflict with the rule makers etc are much less likely to be actively involved in their own child's education.
They are less likely to go to PT conferences. They are less likely to ask the teacher for ways to help their child. They are less likely to seek a positive outcome if/when conflict arises with their child in school.
It's not genetics so much as it is sociology. Beyond that we can pretend that ethnic minorities and low income people are as likely to get a break in these United States as are say people like the millionaire wall street brokers, congressional politicians or even the upper income people in our quaint little community.
Some time ago, we went to Sonic in Ark City to purchase some drinks. The bill came to $4.26. When the carhop came out with the drinks, we gave her a $5 dollar bill, a quarter and a penny. She looked at the money in her hand and froze for a moment... "How much change do I owe you?" she asked. We kindly explained the process of counting back change and then asked her how much she owed us. "One dollar?" she guessed. She was a student at the High School and a very bright and friendly person.
Now, I don't know about you, but someone that old SHOULD know how to count back change and should have mastered it before leaving elementary school. Regardless of test scores, this is the real world and our schools should be helping to prepare these kids for life in that real world.
It's no wonder houses are being repossessed faster than they can be built. The schools turn out kids that are overall, not prepared to take care of themselves, handle money or the families they will create. They don‘t know how to be good employees and bring their best effort to the table. Our society is all about “self“ and what makes “self“ happy. Hard to turn out a good product at work when your employees can‘t pass a drug test, show up on time, or master the work required of them. Yet, they will be the first ones to whine about not making enough money.
Is this all solely the school's responsibility? Of course not! But due to a "broken" education system, (Thank You John Dewey, Henry Ford and the advent of the assembly line!) we have 30, 40 and 50 year olds who never learned how to do those things either and never took the responsibility to go learn it on their own, so they can't teach their own kids what they don't know.
Our current government is a product of this same educational system. The US is in a mess? Go figure!! Did you know that the US Department of Education didn‘t even exist until the 60‘s?? Are we better off for the development of that department??
It all boils down to the fact that we must each be responsible for ourselves and our families. We can't expect the school to raise our children. We can’t leave it to the schools and overworked, stressed out teachers who go home and cry over the real life situations of many of their students, wishing there was a way to help them more.
If you don't have the knowledge you need, go get it! Learn for yourself. There is no excuse for you not knowing what you need to know to excel, raise well adjusted kids, and be a leader and important part of the community. With the invention of the internet, the world of information is literally at your fingertips. You can spend your life blaming a broken educational system and continue to throw more and more money at it, but that doesn't absolve you from your own family's current state of affairs and your own level of knowledge, or lack thereof.
Unless you have actually been in a school building and watched what the teachers actually have to do each and every day do not dump on the teachers.
Today's teachers are not dealing with the same type of students as were there ten years ago much less 20 or more years ago.
Society has changed and there are many more issues to overcome than most would ever believe. It is not about income but in some ways it is...try educating a hungry child in ANY school. Try learning when you barely speak English. It does make a difference about where you come from.
Try to learn when your parents fight and abuse each other and maybe you. Try learning when you go from house to house to sleep because no one can pay rent.
This is not about WHERE you go to school. It is about what you have to endure when you AREN'T in school. We need to help society get stable and that can not be done in a schoolhouse.
No I am not a teacher but I spend lots of time in schools and it will break your heart to see what the kids have to endure before they get to the buildings.
Math is not a priority. Survival is.
The voucher systems is a great idea, unless you sit on the school board and can't afford the loss of revenues. Ironic isn't it? You want the best for your child, but can't stand for the rest to be as well off.
Why don't we just all work to make what we have now great. It is up to all of us. We have to get involved regardless of age, income, or political belief to make education in this town work. We have to stop waiting for the government to fix it.
This town focuses on city issues and petty things like property purchases but what really makes a town attractive is the educational opportunities for the families of any incoming business or industry.
None of our local news sources really look at school issues. They seldom look beyond the surface and press release handed out by the district. We have to know facts. How many kids in our district are classified as homeless, how many are ESL, how many are in special needs classes, how many work full time jobs after school? The picture of education is not painted. It is not about kids playing happily on a playground and going home to an Ozzie and Harriet home.
Science and history are barely taught since they aren't tested in elementary school.
People think that "my kids aren't in school anymore so I don't care" We all need to care and it will take all of us to make things better.
"Try to learn when your parents fight and abuse each other and maybe you."
What counts as abuse today was called discipline 20 years ago. Now days if you spank your child someone calls SRS and reports you for child abuse. And you wonder why kids behave so poorly today.
To anonymous on 10:32
Please tell me that you know abuse is not about a spanking. Abuse in today's world is about parents or grandparents that post pictures on the internet of you in underwear; abuse is about a dad that has a bad day and whops you extra for something as simple as not eating your peanut butter and jelly the right way; abuse is about a parent wielding a gun; or making meth or smoking pot or gambling away your grocery money; or belittling you or physically touching you.
Your comment proved the point..you don't know what goes on in the real world of today's education.
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